For several years, reports have multiplied on the largest hiking routes in France. The Chemin de Saint-Jacques-de-Compostela (GR65), the GR20 in Corsica, the GR10 in the Pyrenees, the Via Alpina, the Grande Traversée du Jura or the Stevenson path are now regularly mentioned for infestations of bedbugs in lodgings, refuges or hostels.
These insects benefit from the high rotation of walkers and promiscuity in the dormitories. Wooden accommodation, sometimes old and difficult to treat, offer many hiding places. In some cases, establishments must even close temporarily to carry out decontamination operations.
On social networks, impressive testimonies and photos are multiplying. The last one, with a back ravaged with bites, in the Facebook group La Félie du GR20.
Why do the bedbugs love hikers?
Bedbugs do not jump, do not fly, but know how to travel … and their favorite transport is your backpack. A simple garment placed on an infested mattress is enough for them to slip into your belongings and continue the road with you.
Attracted by body heat and CO₂, they willingly settle in a sleeping bag or a pair of shoes. Resistant, they can survive several days without food, waiting for the next cottage to reinstall themselves.
What risks for walkers?
The first inconvenience is the bites: intense itching, skin reactions, sometimes allergies. But the bedbugs mainly represent an insidious danger: infestation of your business (clothes, bag, sleeping), may import harm in your home on return. And there, it’s really hell, with contamination of your accommodation. But also stress and fatigue linked to sleepless nights and the fear of being stung.
A sharp increase in 2025
According to the union of canine detection experts from bedbugs (SEDCPL), infestations jumped 50 % in June 2025 compared to last year.
Professionals are advancing several reasons: the massive resumption of trips, the high summer heat favorable to insects, but also a certain relaxation after the “psychosis” of 2023.
How to protect yourself by hiking?
Faced with bedbugs, it is better to warn than cure. Some simple reflexes make it possible to considerably reduce the risks of transporting them in your bag or finding them in your bed on the return.
Before leavingremember to compartmentalize your things: Store your clothes in hermetic bags and protect your sleeping bag with a cover or a sheet. A specific repulsive spray, applied to the bag and sleeping, can also constitute an effective barrier.
On the waya little vigilance is enough: quickly inspect the mattresses and box springs, especially if they have small black spots or suspicious traces. Avoid placing your bag directly on the floor or against walls, hiding places ideal for these insects. In the morning, get into the habit of shaking your clothes and sleeping bags before storing them.
Back homedo not come back headed: unpack your things outside or in the bathtub, spend all the laundry at 60 ° C, and slide sensitive objects (shoes, sac, etc.) to the freezer for a few days. Finally, a surface treatment with an anti-public spray on the bag and the equipment makes it possible to eliminate any clandestine passengers.
